How the Inuzuka Came to Be
by sakikui
Summary: Kiba explains to his son the origin of the Inuzuka clan. Headcanon.


**A/N: I wrote this for a longer story that I abandoned, but I liked this part so much I decided to tweak it and make it a one-shot. I love the Inuzuka clan (read: I love dogs), and think they're kinda unrepresented in the show. This is my headcanon of how the clan works and where they came from. Enjoy!**

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When I was six, the puppies turned a month old and were ready to leave their mother. My father, Kiba, head of the Inuzuka clan, told me to pick out a puppy and meet him at the Inuzuka shrine in the woods behind our district. It was a small stone box of a building with vines covering it all except for where the Inuzuka crest was carved. He had often scolded me often for playing there. I wasn't allowed to go inside. At least, I wasn't allowed until that day.

The inside of the shrine was overrun with moss. There was a stone wolf in the center and a circle of benches around it. Carvings on the wall seemed to tell a story.

"Do you know, son, how the shinobi came to be?" asked Dad.

I knew the story by heart, of course, because my mother told me stories about shinobi every night before I fell asleep. "There was a meteor, and it crashed to Earth, and a tree grew in its place, and it bore a fruit, and that fruit contained chakra. And there was a woman who came with the tree, and she ate the fruit, and gained all the power in the world. Her son was the Sage of the Six Paths, and he spread the chakra throughout the world, and those people's ancestors became the original shinobi clans."

Dad nodded. "And do you know how the Inuzuka came to be?"

I furrowed my brow. "Like I said. The Sage of the Six Paths gave chakra to people."

"Only people?" Dad asked. I thought through all of the stories Mom had told me. She'd never said he gave chakra to anything besides people. She motioned to a carving on the wall. "So mom never told you the story of the eskimo and the wolf?"

"What's an eskimo?" I asked.

"The eskimo were nomadic people who lived in the north. They lived off the land, moving from place to place looking for food."

"That doesn't sound like fun," I said.

He laughed. "They've all died out now, but their closest relatives are the samurai from the Land of Iron, and the Inuzuka clan. The Sage of the Six Paths was travelling in the Land of Iron, and he came upon a little eskimo girl who was being stalked by a wolf. An eskimo man came with a spear to kill the wolf, but the Sage raised his hand to stop him, and he touched the wolf with his chakra, and the wolf was subdued. And the Sage said to the man, 'Human and nature are not enemies. Be kind to the wild, and the wild will be kind to you.' The wolf followed the nomads, and its pack protected them wherever they went. The clan became strong and prosperous thanks to the protection of the wolves. The little girl whom the Sage had saved was the clan's princess, and she and the wolf shared a special bond. She became the matriarch, and the wolf was always at her side. The chakra the Sage had given the wolf granted it an unnaturally long life. Soon, all of the other wolves in the pack had died, but the chakra wolf remained. The clan feared that its era of prosperity was at an end. The wolf sensed this, for it had learned to understand human language and emotions. So the wolf shared its chakra with the matriarch. Her name was Inuzuka.

"Do you know what a sage is, son?" asked Dad.

"Mr. Uzumaki is a sage," I said. "His eyes turn funny sometimes."

Dad smiled. "Are my eyes funny?"

"No," I answered. "Your eyes are your eyes. They're always like that."

"Mr. Uzumaki had to undergo extensive training to become a sage, and to achieve his sage state, he has to spend time absorbing nature energy. However," said Dad, "there are a few clans who are naturally sage-like. Their chakra is different from standard chakra in that it's already derived from nature. One of them is the Aburame clan. And I bet you can guess the other."

"Yep!" I said with an impish grin. "The Uchiha!"

Dad sighed and laughed. "You do have a choice, son," said Dad. "You don't have to join yourself to a ninken, and you can still be a fine shinobi without one."

I looked at the yet unnamed puppy sleeping on my lap. "Why wouldn't I?" I stammered. "What happens? Is it scary?"

"There are some side-effects," said Dad. "Your senses of smell and hearing will become heightened. It is a bit jarring at first. Your facial features may be affected slightly. When I did it, my canine teeth grew, and my eyes changed, although this doesn't happen to everyone. You might find your personality is affected as well. Well, maybe not personality...what's the word I'm looking for?...you may find that the way you experience the world differs from your friends. Inuzuka are just a little more in touch with our instincts than our peers. Humans, throughout the ages, have put a lot of effort into separating themselves from nature, in some attempt to gain superiority over it. Inuzuka do not shun what comes naturally. Inuzuka know that humans are merely another animal, and this is not a weakness, but a strength."

"Humans and nature are not enemies," I said, remembering the line from the story earlier. "Be kind to nature, and nature will be kind to you."

Dad smiled. "I think you are ready. Place your hand on your puppy's head, and push your chakra towards him."

I obeyed. The puppy's fur bristled and he whimpered softly. I started to pull back, afraid I was hurting him, but then his tail started to wag gently. I felt a warmth travel up my arm and tingle all through my body. Every hair on my body stood on end, and the warmth traveled to my ears and nose. I heard every bird and little animal in the forest around us. I smelled the stench of mold and dog and body odor, but I also smelled flowers, grasses, and fresh running water. I felt so very small and so very large at the same time; so very weak and so very powerful. I felt the Earth moving beneath my feet, and the blood flowing through my veins, and my breakfast digesting in my stomach, and it was all very much to feel all at once, but it all came in a blanket and peace and love and security.

The puppy howled a puppy howl and nipped at my hand. I growled back at him, and my dad indicated that we were done. He dipped his fingers in red dye and ran them down my cheeks.


End file.
